John clifford



(No Model.)

J. CLIFFORD.

WATER CLOSET.

No. 335,895. Pate ritedTeb. 9, 1886.

JOHN CLIFFORD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE L. IVOLFFMANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

WATER-CLOSET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 335,895 dated February9, 1886.

Application filed December 12, 1885. Serial No. 185,463. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN CLIFFORD, of Ohicago, in the county of Cook andState of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements inater-Closets; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, making part of this application.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in that kindof water'closets in which there is a side delivery-bowl, of porcelain orother frangible material, the neck of which has to be securely fastenedin a watertight manner to the cast-iron trunk, and in which there isalso a metallic trunk or reservoir located beneath the seat of thecloset and provided with a removable metallic cover.

Previous to my invention it has been customary in the manufacture ofsuch closets to secure the neck of the bowl (with a packed joint) to asort of supporting and coupling stand formed on the trunk-casting invarious ways; butin all the prior constructions, so far as I know, therehas always been great difficulty in effecting the jointure of thefrangible bowl-neck, and the metallic trunk device in a manner at oncesimple, strong, durable, and perfectly water-tight.

I propose by my invention to provide the means for effecting a better,simpler, and more lasting watertight joint between the bowlneck and thetrunk than has heretofore been attained to; and to this end my inventionmay be said to consist, primarily, in forming the metallic stand, thatprojects from the trunk, with a sort of semi-cylindrical (or semi-tubalar) portion provided with a semi -annular groove or recess. In formingthe neck of the bowl with an annular bead, and in providing asemicircular retaining-strap or half-collar, that, by preference, alsohas a semi-annular recess in it, these parts being adapted to be puttogether, with a suitable plastic packing between their adjacentsurfaces, in such manner that the beaded portion of the bowl-neck willbe encircled by the recessed portion of the metal stand and the groovedhalf-collar, when the latter shall have its ends bolted to said stand,and so that the said bowl-neck will be securely and durably coupled in aperfectly water-tight manner to the metallic trunlqwith thedelivery-opening of which said bowl-neck communicates, all as will behereinafter more fully explained.

In the manufacture of such closets it has also been customary previousto myinvention tighten up the screws and nuts; and, furthermore, it isalways undesirable to thus remove the screws from their nuts on accountof these parts getting mislaid while working around the closet so thatthey cannot be replaced when wanted.

My invention has for one of' its objects to cure this objection in thestructures heretofore made; and to this end my invention consists,secondly, in a novel construction of the lugs of the cover andtrunk-top, with cut'outs through which the body of the bolt or screw maybe passed laterally, and with upwardlyprojeoting portions on the lugs ofthe cover, which hold the screw in place laterally when the latter isturned home, but which pass beneath the head of the screw when thelatter shall have been slightly unscrewed, to permit the extrication ofthe parts.

It also consists in an arrangement of the bolts and nuts with the trunksuch that one side of each of the nuts will come to a bearing againstthe exterior surface of the wall of the trunk and thereby be held fromturning with thebolt in either screwing in or unscrewing the latter, andthus render unnecessary the use of any wrench in putting together ortaking apart the devices to which the bolts and nuts are applied, all aswill be hereinafter more fully explained.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention relates to usewater-closets containing one or all of these novel features of 100construction, I will now proceed to more fully describethe several partsof my invention,

referring by lcttersto the accompanying drawings, which form part ofthis specification,

and in which I have shown my invention cerried out in that form in whichI have so far successfully practiced it, and which is the best now knownto me.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of so much of awater-closet of the kind above alluded to as it is necessary should beshown to illustrate the application to such a closet of the severalfeatures of my invention. Fig. 2 is a view in perspective (enlargedscale) of the bowl-neck, detached to better show'its circumferentialbead. Fig. 3 is a :5 partial or detail vertical section (same scale)through the center of the combined or coupled bowLneck and its metallicsupport. Fig. 4 is a detail view in perspective of the lug-like devicesof the trunk and its cover, drawn on 2; an enlarged scale, and with theparts securely fastened together, while Fig. 5 is a similar view, butwith the screw slightly unscrewed, and showing how the cover may beremoved without removing either the screw or nut.

Fig. 6 is a detail bottom view of the lug on the trunk and of part ofthe trunk, showing the relative arrangement of the nut and trunkwall.

In the several figures the same part will be 0 found designated by thesame letter of refer ence. A is the bowl, and B the trunk or reservoir,of the closet, the said porcelain bowl and the metallic trunk beingconnected together by 5 the union of the neck aof the former with thecoupling-stand b of the latter.

0 is a metallic half-collar or semicircular band, the ends 0 of whichare formed so as to be united with the lugs or ear portions (1 of 0 thestand by screw-bolts c, all as clearly shown.

The stand I) is formed with a groove or recess at f, and the half-collaror band C has a similar groove at 9, so that when these two metallicparts are bolted together their inter- 4 5 nal tubular surface containsa continuous annular groove adapted to accommodate or receive theannular head or rib h on the external surface of the neck a of theporcelain bowl.

I represents any suitable packing, which intervenes between the adjacentsurfaces of the bowl-neck and of the metallic parts with which it isconnected, and which is applied in a plastic condition at the time ofsetting up the closet, and subsequently hardens sufficiently to insurethe perfect water-tightness of the joint between the parts.

It will be understood that the neck of the bowl is seated and packedwithin and on the stand portion 12 of the trunk, with its annular 6obead or rib h matched into the grooves f and g of the stand andhalf-collar, so that any endwise movement of the bowl-neck relatively tothe metal parts with which it is coupled is effectually prevented, andit will be seen that while alllongitudinal movement of the coupled partsrelatively is thus prevented the bowl is firmly supported and securelyheld in place otherwise byhaving its-neck firmly clasped by the metallicclamping devices, which, however, encircle it with an interposedpacking, so that there is no danger or liability of fracturing theporcelain portion of the closet.

Of course the forms of the parts may be varied more orless, andthe shapeof the interlocking-groove in the metallic parts and head on thebowl-neck may be changed without departing from the novel structure towhich the first part of my invention relates, and, if deemed expedient,more than one interlocking recess and rib may be employed.

, As every plumber and other person skilled in the art knows, it issometimes very awkward to get at the nuts (and hold them with a wrench)while unscrewing the bolts or screws used to fasten on the cover H ofthe trunk B, and to avoid the necessity of thus holding the nut I placethe nut m so that one of its sides will come to a bearing against theexterior surface of a portion, 92, of the wall of the trunk, as clearlyseen at Fig. 6. In other words, I place the screw and its nut with theiraxes so near to the portion n of the trunk and make the nut m of suchsize that its corners cannot turn within the space between the nut andthe trunk-wall. In this way the wall serves to hold the nut againstturning, and thus no net cessity arises for the workman to hold the nutwhile manipulating the screws. The screws 0 are made, preferably, withscrew-driver heads, as shown, and the lugs 12 of the cover H are eachcut out or slotted, as shown at r, and each formed with raised portionsor'projections s, so that when the screw 0 is turned home the cover isin place laterally in all directions, since the sides and bottom (orend) of the cut-out 1' come against the body of the screw, while at thesame time the upward projections s prevent any lateral movement of theparts relatively in the only direction in which such movement is notprevented by the bearings of the screws body against the walls of theslot or cut-out 0*,- but whenever it may too IIO

be desired to remove the cover H, it is only v necessary to turn thescrews 0 out until their heads pass over the projections s, or, in otherwords, until the projections can pass beneath the screw-heads, when thecover may be slid along sufficiently to let the upper portion of thescrews body out through the slit or cutaway 1', when of course the cover'can be removed, the screw remaining in engagement with its nut, so thatneither the screw nor the nut can get mislaid.

The novel features of structure by which I this convenient result isaccomplished will be appreciated as quite a desideratum in waterclosetcontrivances, which, as before remarked, have often to be put up inplaces where and under circumstances such that great difficulty arisesin getting at the cover-fastenings to remove and replace the coverwhenever it may be necessary to expose the internal mechanism of thetrunk or reservoir.

Having now so fully explained the several features of my invention thatany one skilled in the art can make a water-closet cont-aining eitherone or more of the separable parts or features of said invention, ineither the precise form shown or under some mere modification, what Iclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination with the metallic trunk formed or provided with aprojecting stand, b, having a groove, f, the bowl-neck provided with abead or circumferential rib, h, and the half-collar 0, preferablygrooved at g, the whole constructed to operate substantially as and forthe purpose hereinbefore set forth.

JOHN CLIFFORD.

In presence of-- J NO. F. WoLFF, E. M. FORD.

